Leaser Lake to begin refilling

The dam at Leaser Lake in Lynn Township has undergone major upgrading after… (Douglas Kilpatrick, SPECIAL…)

November 13, 2012|Gary Blockus

Lehigh Valley anglers and boaters received very welcome news late last week when the state Department of Environmental Protection gave the final approval to begin refilling Leaser Lake in northwestern Lehigh County.

According to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, the refilling process will begin in mid-December, and the 117-acre lake will be stocked with trout in time for the regional opening day of trout season on Saturday, March 30, 2013.

"This is great news for all the anglers, boaters and outdoor enthusiasts who use the lake and have been waiting patiently for the project to be completed," said PFBC Executive Director John Arway. "Rebuilding a dam is a big project which requires cooperation between state agencies, local officials and the public."

Leaser Lake, originally constructed with a dam in 1971, has now been rebuilt three times because of leakage issues. This latest repair had the lake drawn down in 2009 for the repair project, which included the addition of man-made and natural fish habitat structures to help the new population of fish that will be stocked in the lake.

"The long-term plan is to stock the lake with fingerlings from various warm-water species, like bass, crappie, blue gills and yellow perch, and allow those fish to grow over the next several years into a sustainable fishery," said Dave Miko, the chief of the PFBC Division of Fisheries Management.

"The short-term plan is to stock adult trout in the lake this spring so anglers can get back on the water and enjoy their sport. As long as the lake is about half-full, and anglers can safely access the water, we'll stock trout for the opener

Refilling the lake, which sits on approximately 526 acres of public land owned by the state and Lehigh County, will take some time. Rainfall will help fill the lake, but levels will also be determined by PFBC engineers, who plan on raising the water level two feet per week while monitoring the dam for any problems until it is full.

The $3.5-million repair project included a $500,000 contribution from Lehigh County, while the Leaser Lake Heritage Foundation raised funds to help pay for the fish habitat structures in conjunction with PFBC work.

Also contributing to the price tag were grants for $750,000 from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' Community Conservation Partnerships, $500,000 from DEP, and $300,000 form PFBC's Growing Greener II program.

In addition to the lake itself, local Boy Scout troops and school districts helped formalize a trail system around the lake, which is on the south side of the Blue Mountain.

CWD quarantine spreading on deer farms: As of Friday, 27 deer farms in 16 Pennsylvania counties have been quarantined because of the Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) that was first confirmed in a 3 1/2 –year-old female deer Oct. 10 at a deer enclosure in New Oxford, Adams County. The doe had died on Oct. 4 and was tested. Since that confirmation, one doe escaped while the remaining seven deer were euthanized and tested for the disease because no test for live deer is available.

Last Thursday, the state Department of Agriculture confirmed that one of those deer, a buck, had CWD. The number of quarantined farms and enclosures has now grown from three to 12 to 27.

There are more than 1,100 deer farms and enclosures in the state, according to the Department of Agriculture and extended the farms and enclosures in the quarantine from three to 27. The Department of Agriculture, not the Pennsylvania Game Commission, regulates deer farms.

Special deer check stations have been established for hunters harvesting deer in areas of the quarantines. Please consult the game commission web site at http://www.pgc.state.pa.us for complete information.

The third public meeting on the outbreak was held last night at the Hampton Fire Company in New Oxford.

Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe will appear on Pennsylvania Cable Network's live "PCN Call-In" program at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 15. Viewers of the hour-long program can call in questions to PCN toll-free at 1-877-726-5001.

Web seminar on Pa. deer management: If deer management in the state is a concern for you, plan on taking part in the deer management web seminar at noon and 7 p.m. today.

The "webinar" is sponsored by PA Forests and is being led by Christopher Rosenberry, Supervisor, Deer and Elk Section, Pennsylvania Game Commission. Each session is expected to last one hour, although the question-and-answer portion after the formal seminar may add 20-30 minutes to each program.

To take part, go online to https://meeting.psu.edu/PAForestWeb/ .

Handouts, PowerPoints and recorded presentations will be available at http://extension.psu.edu/private-forests/tools-resources/webinars/previous .

PFBC asks for your help: The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is extremely concerned about the politics being played with the federal budget in Congress.